My Prima Ballerina
by Claykalin
Summary: Greg's ballet company are performing The Nutcracker and he's been given the role of the Nutcracker Prince. Fate gives him back his prima ballerina.


**My Prima Ballerina**

**_A/N: _**_Hello! This one shot is written for day three of the Advent Calendar Competition on HPFC (link can be found in my bio)_

_Prompt: Sugar Plum Fairy_

_**Disclaimer:**_****_I do not own any rights to the Harry Potter series nor am I making any money from writing this, just having a lot of fun!_

_Enjoy!_

…

Sìleas MacDougal had always been a lover of ballet, so it was no wonder her son Gregory Goyle grew to love it with her, and happily learnt ballet through childhood.

It wasn't until he was much older that he really began to shine in it, and when the studio he danced with chose to perform _The Nutcracker_, his director quickly had him pinned for the role of the Nutcracker Prince, but it was the Sugar Plum Fairy casting that had him worried.

Toni Deller, a Muggleborn girl from Killaloe, Ireland.

She was a Hufflepuff, in the year below Greg.

They had bumped into each other one day in the library, back in fourth year, Greg with a stack of Astronomy texts and Toni with a number of Founders Magic Scrolls.

They'd had a laugh and chatted away about the disruption of all the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students, and onto topics of international magic and travel, and who knows what else. It wasn't until Madam Pince kicked them out for talking too loudly that they realised they'd been talking for two hours and the library was closed.

And it was that weekend, when Greg made his usual train journey down to London for ballet, that he saw her there, too.

Of course they clicked!

They were the only Hogwarts students there, apart from a senior Gryffindor guy that Greg had never bothered to talk to. Toni just laughed and told him the boy was Kenneth Towler. He still didn't care, though. The rest of the company was made up of students from the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts.

So they got to share train rides together twice a weekend for almost two years. Time spent during those train rides went from getting to know each other to _getting to know each other_.

They'd never exactly kept it a secret, but they hadn't publicised it, either. And they did get to spend every weekend together; it was easier if they caught up every week instead of actually seeing each other every day.

That was how Greg saw it, at least.

But Toni had grown fed up with _being ignored_ and _getting put aside the minute you put on that damn uniform! _She'd told him to find someone else, but in colourful language that impressed him as she broke his heart.

And now here they were, with Toni just as capable as he when the curtain opens. The rehearsals were awkward, to say the least, they'd only stopped seeing each other a month previously.

The wound was still painful for Greg, but he tried not to show it as they practiced the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. It was supposed to be a joyous and homely finish to the entire performance, a Prince being welcomed back home. Toni would be the Prima Ballerina of the performance, and the technique was as fun as it was strict, light at is what sharp.

"No, no, no!" the director was furious with them.

Understandable since up until now they would always practice together, learning two parts just so they could help each other practice, and here they were straining to have any kind of proper technique and Greg touching and holding her as lightly as possible. He could see her trying to keep a straight face, but she still cringed every time the routine called for him to hold her or, better yet, _lift_ her.

"I don't care _what_ drama you two think you have, your futures are riding on this performance so _pull your heads together_ and _do the Merlin-damned routine like it's supposed to be_!" he held his fingers to his temples. "Go," he whispered.

Greg felt Toni stiffen. "Sorry, sir? I-"

"Go home, both of you," he looked up, his voice still barely a whisper and his eyes full of anger as they darted between the two dancers. "Sort out whatever is going on, and let me know whether you've fixed it or I need to re-cast the entire damn group." Then he turned to the rest of the dancers gathered there. "Rehearsal is postponed to next week, I will send you what acts we will be doing."

Greg left silent, dumbfounded, but he could see Tori doing her best not to cry. The other dancers all watched them; jealous, impatient, angry.

He did something he wasn't sure she'd let him do. He put his arm around her and held her close as they headed back to the fireplace.

She cried into his shoulders and they stood in the Floo Room for several minutes.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it," she said eventually, finishing with a sniff.

"It's okay," Greg said, rubbing her back gently but otherwise keeping his gaze firmly on the wall.

"No, no, I shouldn't have spoiled this." She wrapped her arms around him but managed to look up at him. "I'm so sorry, Greg."

He just looked at her. The back of his mind tried to tell him what he knew she was saying, but he wasn't ready to put himself through that, he wasn't going to jump to conclusions. She was just upset about the performance, right? It was pretty tough. They had to get passed their own emotions and dive into the routine.

She could see him thinking, he could be so unsure of himself at times.

"I should never have pushed you away," she told him, holding on to the faint hope in his eyes tighter than she'd held her broomstick the first time she'd tried to fly.

He was thinking too fast, thinking of everything she'd said and everything he'd done before they broke up, the way she'd seemed so distant and how he'd given her the space she thought she wanted.

"I love you, Greg," she said, and her hand found the back of his head where she slowly pulled it down on to him. She stopped just before their lops touched. "I truly love you."

"I love you, too," he croaked. It was only hearing his voice that made her realise he was on the verge of tears, too. But now they were happy tears.

…

**_A/N: _**_Toni Deller is loosely named after Antonietta Dell'Era, the original Sugar Plum Fairy._

_Hope you liked it! Drop a review and let me know what you think! Have a nice day!_


End file.
